


And I Go Insane (Like I Always Do)

by Jeanne160



Category: Winnie-the-Pooh - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, He's not, I mean he is, If You Squint - Freeform, Mentions of Death, My OCs are dead though, No Major Character Death, Rabbit Thinks He's Crazy, There's a ship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but not for the reason he thinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-25 00:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21108584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeanne160/pseuds/Jeanne160
Summary: Rabbit might be going crazy. But it's okay. Tigger still likes him, crazy and all.





	And I Go Insane (Like I Always Do)

**Author's Note:**

> This all started because my sister and I were watching Pooh's Grand Adventure for the sake of nostalgia. There was a scene where Piglet, thinking the worst had happened to Pooh, said he thought he heard the voice of Pooh cheering them on. Rabbit just gives Piglet this sad, understanding smile, like it's happened to him before. And thus, this was born. Enjoy!

It all started with his Great Aunt Wilma. She had been a very old bunny when she had passed, and Rabbit had still been quite young. She had spent quite a few summers watching over Rabbit and his siblings. So it wasn't that strange when one morning, while still adolescent Rabbit heard his Great Aunt chiding him on his choice of breakfast, a very sugary cereal. Later, his parents would just say he had thought of what the older bunny would have said to him. And, since he really had missed her greatly, and it only happened a few times afterwards, he agreed with his parents.

So it came as a great surprise to him when one morning, well into his adulthood in the Hundred Acre Woods, Rabbit once again heard the voice of Great Aunt Wilma. He'd been boiling some carrots and celery to make a soup stock to enjoy through the week. Being that it was a simple activity, and one he enjoyed greatly, Rabbit hummed a little tune to himself.

“If you don't pay more attention to the soup and less attention to your song, you'll ruin the dish,” Rabbit could swear the voice of his Great Aunt said from somewhere behind him.

“I'm just boiling some vegetables,” Rabbit replied with an eye roll to himself, “It's harder to mess up than get right.”

“I don't like your attitude, boy,” The voice said again, “You might want to think on that.”

“I don't have a-” Rabbit stopped mid sentence as he turned to the kitchen table behind him. It should have been empty. Instead, sitting in her Sunday best (not that Rabbit knew why that would be), was his Great Aunt Wilma. Well, mostly. She was more translucent than he thought she had any right to be.

“GAAA,” Rabbit screamed, jumping backwards on instinct. Unfortunately, backwards was in the direction of the hot stove.

Once Rabbit got over the pain of receiving a burn on his rump and right hand he looked back at the table, but no one was there.

“But that was impossible, right?” Rabbit would ask Kanga when retelling the events to her as she patched up his burns.

“Are you getting enough sleep?” Kanga asked politely.

“I thought I was,” Rabbit replied, “But if I'm seeing things that aren't there than I must not be.”

“Eight hours, Rabbit,” Kanga replied, wrapping his hand in gauze, “Uninterrupted if you can.”

* * *

It was while Pooh was visiting for lunch that things got more strange. Well, visiting for lunch was not the words Rabbit would have used for what Pooh was doing. Visiting implied that Pooh had been invited. He had more or less shown up for lunch and invited himself inside. Still, Rabbit had been too polite to tell Pooh he wasn't welcome and so Pooh was sitting at the kitchen table, eating straight from a jar of honey. Rabbit was making himself some tea on the stove when it happened once more.

“You should just tell that bear you don't want him to show up unannounced like this,” Great Aunt Wilma said from behind him. Rabbit did his best to pretend he just imagined her saying that to him.

“Do you buy two jars of honey every time you go to the store, just so you can sweeten your tea?” She carried on.

“It's all in your head, Rabbit,” he muttered to himself, “You didn't get enough sleep last night.”

“What is?” Pooh asked.

“What's what?” Rabbit replied, turning back around to look at Pooh.

“What's nothing?” Pooh asked, arm passing through the incorporeal body of Great Aunt Wilma.

“I don't know what you're talking about!” Rabbit tried to hide his panic at once again seeing the dead bunny when Pooh clearly didn't see her.

“You said something about it being in your head,” Pooh being a bear of very little brains hadn't picked up on Rabbit's desire to move away from the topic, “What is?”

“Oh nothing, nothing at all,” Rabbit laughed nervously, “Especially not the ghost of my Great Aunt Wilma.”

“Who?” Pooh asked, distracted enough from his pot of honey that Rabbit was able to sweeten his tea.

“Nobody!” Rabbit replied, tail twitching nervously behind him.

“If you say so,” Pooh shrugged and carried on demolishing the pot of honey.

Great Aunt Wilma made no further comments, though she didn't disappear until well after a rather sticky Pooh gave his good-byes.

* * *

If it had only been his Great Aunt Wilma, maybe Rabbit would have been able to get used to it. It was a strange delusion for a bunny to have, but Christopher Robin would have reassured him he wasn't going crazy. And Rabbit might have actually believed him. But it hadn't stopped there.

It happened while Rabbit was weeding his garden. He was bent over, pulling a dandelion out of the ground (already he had a bucket full of the pests which would make for a lovely dinner) when he heard a very strange sound.

“Hmmm,” a very feminine voice came from behind him, “Might be easier if you used some cutters.”

Rabbit stood straight and turned, expression incredulous, “And what good would that do?”

Before Rabbit was the slightly translucent body of his late cousin, Rosie, who had met a tragic fate under a boulder. Now though, Rabbit wouldn't have been able to tell anything at all had happened to her, dressed for a day at the market like she was.

“Oh don't be so dramatic,” She huffed, leaning back against his fence while Rabbit attempted to hide behind the bucket of dandelions.

“W-what are you d-doing here?” Rabbit said nervously from his spot on the ground.

“Apparently watching you present yourself to the world at large while preparing dinner,” Rosie rolled her eyes.

“That's not-” Rabbit stood straight again, “Oh, never mind. No point in arguing with myself I guess.”

“Excuse me,” Rosie looked offended, “Yourself? Do I look like a male, over stressed bunny to you?”

“You look like a dead one,” Rabbit muttered.

“Well now I'm just hurt,” Rosie pushed herself away from the fence, “The gardening sheers are in the drawer by the sink. Don't hurt yourself getting them.”

And with that Rosie just disappeared. Rabbit felt less sure of his sanity than he had before.

* * *

It was a strange occurrence for Tigger to be in his house. The other animal was usually too excited to sit still for long and usually left a mess wherever he went. Rabbit was also less than appreciative of the nickname Tigger had given him. Long Ears was not a very good nickname at all. But a party was a party, and if Rabbit invited Pooh and Piglet (and where one went the other was sure to follow) it stood to reason that he should invite everyone else. Owl had already begun telling the long winded tale of some distant relative's fish story.

“I like the striped one,” Rosie said while Rabbit was mid-bite of his own carrot cake. This caused a coughing fit that produced a concerned look from everyone in the room.

“I'm fine,” Rabbit did not sound fine at all, “Just need some water. I'll go get some.”

Nobody questioned Rabbit getting a bucket and going outside, even though he had a very functional tap in his house. Rabbit figured they collectively decided he just needed some air and had a polite excuse. At least, Rabbit hoped that's what they thought, and not that he was slowly losing his grip on reality.

“You didn't need to do that,” Rosie had left with him, “I can take a hint, unlike some bunnies I know.”

“Watch your tone, girl,” Great Aunt Wilma trailed behind them, had she always been there?

“You two are proof of my insanity,” Rabbit hissed to himself, “Oh no.”

“You're not going crazy Ra-Ra,” Rosie giggled, “You're just lucky!”

“Lucky,” Rabbit scoffed, “Clearly not.”

“Boy,” Great Aunt Wilma took a severe tone, “Think very carefully about what it is you want to say.”

“I'm insane,” Rabbit fell to the ground, “I've gone insane and Christopher is going to have to do something about it and I'll never see my friends again and... and...”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Rosie crouched in front of him, “Easy there Rabbit. It's okay.”

“No it's not,” Tears streamed from Rabbit's face, “It's happening. Mom always warned me but did I listen? No. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“Hey now,” A very, very, unfeminine voice said, “It's okay Long Ears.”

“Oh, Tigger,” Rabbit used his own ears as a handkerchief for his teary eyes, “Hello.”

“Why the long face, Long Ears?” Tigger put a hand on Rabbit's foot in what he guessed was supposed to be a comforting gesture.

“Don't call me that,” Rabbit suddenly found himself a little less sad, and a little more heated.

“Oh come on,” Tigger tapped Rabbit's foot gently, “What's going on?”

“I just,” Rabbit looked at the forms of his Great Aunt Wilma and Rosie, “I think I'm going crazy.”

“Well shucks,” Tigger chuckled, “We're all a little crazy Rabbit.”

“What?” Rabbit's ears stood straight up.

“Well sure,” Tigger shrugged, “Pooh isn't exactly winning any awards for his brain, and Piglet is scared of his own shadow.”

“These are our friends you're talking about!” Rabbit protested.

“Yeah, and I still like them,” Tigger said as a matter-of-fact, “Just like I like you, crazy and all.”

“Oooh, I like him,” Rosie cheered.

“Thanks Tigger,” Rabbit staunchly ignored his cousin's teasing.

“He's not so bad for a cat,” Great Aunt Wilma agreed, which was plumb unusual for her, and a good sign for Tigger.

“Let's get back to the party,” Tigger suggested, “Unless you need some more alone time.”

“Maybe just a minute more,” Rabbit hedged, “But, I'll see you back inside.”

“Okay, Bunny Boy,” Tigger gave Rabbit a sudden, strong hug which almost choked him, then bounced away.

As Rabbit watched his friend go, he thought to himself that maybe, just maybe, it really would all be okay in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it please leave a comment below, or if you didn't like it leave it in the comments below. I don't know how active this fandom is, so I'll be excited to find out.


End file.
